Nia Jax Discusses Her WWE Departure And Eventual Return In The 2023 Royal Rumble

In November 2021, Nia Jax exited WWE as she got caught in a wave of talent releases that also included the likes of Eva Marie, Ember Moon, and Mia Yim. Following that, she made a surprise one-off appearance as an entrant in the 2023 Women's Royal Rumble match. In between, though, Jax says her wrestling career was filled with much uncertainty, especially as she adjusted to life outside of WWE, which had been her homebase for many years.

"I didn't think that I wanted to wrestle anywhere else, but I did know that I wanted to still wrestle," Jax told "Insight With Chris Van Vliet." "I didn't even know if I was going to come back to the WWE, honestly. It was my whole life at the time. So when I was released, it was kind of a shock where I was like, what is my life?

"I had to reset. I'm like, what is my life right now? My whole life's been WWE and I really didn't think about an after. A lot of wrestlers, they get caught up in that because it happens to be like that. When we're on the road five days a week, you don't really think about it after. So I didn't think about wrestling anywhere else. Everybody kept saying try here and go there."

According to Jax, she eventually reached a point where she felt her wrestling career would be either centered in WWE again or done for good. Fortunately for her, she got a taste of the WWE life once more after WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque approved her idea for a cameo appearance in the 2023 Women's Royal Rumble. From there, Jax developed an itch to wrestle on a full-time basis.

"It was funny because I came to the back [from the Rumble match] and Bruce [Prichard] is like 'Hey, do you want to do this again?' I was like 'Maybe.' I didn't give him a definite yes because I wasn't really sure at that point," Jax said. "But then I sat and I waited. It was like a girl waiting for a guy to call. I was like 'Are they going to call me?' I'm kind of sitting around, then got back in the ring and spoke to TJ [Wilson]. He was like 'Yeah, why don't you come back?' I'm like okay, let me get in better shape."

Fueled by a potential comeback in the company, Jax resumed in-ring training with the help of WWE's TJ Wilson and Natalya, who run The Dungeon 2.0 facility in Florida. Jax sought out additional training at the D-Von Dudley Academy, led by WWE Hall of Famer D-Von Dudley, for several months as well. With an extra push from her former WWE Performance Center coach Sara Amato, Jax eventually then reached out to Levesque again.

"I texted him, literally I was sitting at [Amato's] house, her son and my nephew play together. I just said, 'Hey, Hunter, how are you doing? Want to chat?' Then literally like two minutes later, he's like, 'Yeah, we can hop on a call later.' Then it all just rolled from there," Jax said.

Jax returned to WWE as a full-time Superstar in September 2023 by laying out Raquel Rodriguez and then-WWE Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley on "WWE Raw." More than two years later, Jax herself is now a Queen of the Ring winner and former Women's Champion once again. She's also now considered a locker room leader.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Insight With Chris Van Vliet" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.